NGD: Jackson Kevin Bond and crooked traders

[laurens]

Hi guys,

6 months ago I sold my SL2H to fund a new CS Soloist. I had bought my SL2H brand new and only played it for almost a year. It was in mint condition when I sold it. Eventually, I regret selling it so when I saw it up for sale again I jumped on it. However it was advertised as brand new and unused! I confronted the seller with the history and it turned out that the previous seller (the guy I had sold it to) had misinformed him and had said that it was brand new and untouched. The seller is young and a bit naive, but I do believe his side of the story (that he never played the guitar and believed the other guy's story). In the end, I had my old SL2H in my hands but didn't want to buy it because of the price gap.

Now he did have an other nice Jackson RR for sale, the Kevin Bond signature model. I never listened to Kevin Bond nor his band, but this is a cool guitar. So I decided to buy it (as the price was pretty decent). The pup was replaced by the previous owner with a Seymour Duncan blackout. I cleaned it up, repaired a minor item or two and set it up again. It plays very good, good quality IMHO. Neck through, mahogany body, ebony fretboard, what more do you want. Although I think that the Blackout is too dominant, perhaps not a good match with mahogany? I'm thinking about replacing it with a EMG 81. Any suggestions for a different active pick up?

Obligatory pics:

[FunkyApocalypse]

Nice. How does she play?

[algeriet]

Sweet axe!

[ekalb09]

Looks cool. I've never played a blackout but when I had EMG's in mahogany it was a little too much power for me (even playing metal such as bodom/kalmah/arch enemy etc). Works for some though, if you have a store nearby you should pick up a guitar that has an EMG and check them out.

[laurens]

Looks cool. I've never played a blackout but when I had EMG's in mahogany it was a little too much power for me (even playing metal such as bodom/kalmah/arch enemy etc). Works for some though, if you have a store nearby you should pick up a guitar that has an EMG and check them out.

I had EMG 81/85 in my SL2H (alder body). The blackouts are way more powerfull than the EMG's, to my ears that is. I did a comparison in my ESP MII once and I find the blackouts to be too powerful and sacrifice clarity to get into "brootz" territory. My current amp (VHT Pittbull) likes to be pushed, so more output is good but the blackouts are too much for me even with the gain dialed back and the pups lowered. The new EMG 81-X is supposed to be a bit tamer but more organic than the old 81. I think about ordering one as swapping the pup should be easy.

[Hellbat]

If the guy wired the Blackout using the quick connects swapping with an EMG should be easy. If he used the old school connection then you'll need to do a bit of soldering. A lot of people don't like the Blackout bridge but love using the neck in the bridge position, so thats another option for you to look at. Hell if you have it wired up for quick connects then you could have 1 of each model (81, 85, 60, BO, X) and just swap them in and out on a whim.

I'm one of the guys that likes the regular Blackout bridge. It works fine for me but it is a SUPER high output pickup. It's like you have an always on clean boost pedal running. When I'm playing mine I tend to soften up my attack a bit, which actually helps me play smoother and more relaxed in a lot of cases. Through a metal capable amp it's great for 2 and 3 note power chords. More than that though and all you'll get is mud from most amps. Try limiting yourself to 2 note chords and some open pedal chugging and you'll find where the real home of this pickup is. (Drop D Lamb of God type riffing is perfect music for the Blackout.)

[Mazz]

That is absolutely beautiful, Liking the blackout aswell.

[Drake S.]

Man I'm still on the search for 1 of these with the Green bevels! (Ron)

[Grim]

EMG 85 in the bridge.

Kills the 81 imo.

And i've tried both.

My ESP is in B standard right now, with an 85 bridge and a 60 neck

[RacerX]

Man I'm still on the search for 1 of these with the Green bevels! (Ron)

What?

[gmbob22]

Man I'm still on the search for 1 of these with the Green bevels! (Ron)

that makes two of us, though i wouldnt mind a black and red if i could find one for a decent price

[Drake S.]

Oh he's got jokes ladies & gentlemen Ron you have a KBRR with green bevels, so give me a price for it & hand it over calmly

What?

[laurens]

I just replaced it with an EMG 81-X. Gives me much more to work with than the overpowered blackouts. YMMV of course, but I'm happy with the sound right now and I don't have to dial back the gain when I switch to my SL2H with a D-activator in the bridge. The EMG 85 in the bidge is not my favorite.

[bootleg_]

Congrats man. I really want one of those. I need one to keep my RR24M company.

[straycat]

I always thought the original TI pick up sounded killer in those.
Black outs and EMG's just don't do it for me but if you like it that's what its all about.
Great score,I've been close to buying one of those a few times very cool guitars IMO.